Conversas Rotterdam
Originating in Portugal and taking place in 16 countries, the aim of Conversas is to bring people together to discuss, contemplate and reflect on the work of three speakers — Conversadores. For each meeting, three people or groups are selected to introduce their project to an audience of like-minded professionals and interested parties. Conversadores span artists, researchers, dancers, architects, theorists, policymakers et al, giving each session its own individual vibe.
The Rotterdam chapter
I was asked to be the designer for the Rotterdam chapter’s 16th series of talks in 2020. The brief was to create campaign images to promote upcoming sessions on social media, design the final report summarising the talks, and to rethink the logo.
Concept
For this series, I went back to the origins of the word con-ver-sas, a Portuguese word meaning — no prizes for guessing — conversations. For the logo, I broke it down into three syllables, each referencing one of the conversadores and applied a simple italics to ver, which in Latin means spring. Taking a long bow, I connected that to the idea of conversas being a place to share ideas, projects and interests with a view to new perspectives sprouting in subsequent discussions. For each event, I selected a different image depicting Rotterdam with a view to capturing an aspect of the city’s diverse character. Visit conversas.